It’s been 22 years (DEAR GOD) since Steven Spielberg’s superlative dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park first came along and blew audiences away. Now all that time has elapsed and with two disappointing sequels in between, Jurassic World takes things to the only logical place a modern sequel really could; to have the Park be the fully formed world of prehistoric attractions first envisioned by John Hammond (the late-great Richard Attenborough).
Said theme park is now fully up and running, visited by 20,000 new visitors per day and featuring everything from dinosaur petting zoos to Sea World-esque feeding shows and beyond. Behind the scenes are the genius scientists who use genetics to create the dinosaurs, discovering new species and constantly trying to go bigger and better.
But one day they go too far as pressure from the shareholders to make things truly extraordinary and unforgettable has led them to create a genetically modified hybrid dinosaur that bests the T-Rex in size. When it suddenly gets loose, it’s up to hired marine Owen (man-of-the-moment Chris Pratt) and Park Operations Manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to rescue her nephews (Iron Man 3‘s Ty Simpkins and The Kings of Summer’s Nick Robinson) who are stuck out in the park’s most dangerous areas, and doing their best to help bring down the terrorizing new dinosaur that’s hunting for sport.
If you go in expecting something as good as Spielberg’s original then you’re undoubtedly going to come away disappointed. It’s true that it doesn’t quite have the same level of child-like awe and wonder about it, and indeed there’s more emphasis on rendering the dinosaurs fully formed and believable on-screen than there is on the humans involved. But judged on its own merits, on what it sets out to do, the film is something of a thrilling treat, one that fulfills what we’ve come to expect from a modern blockbuster in terms of scale, spectacle and quality of visual effects, as well as providing some nostalgia-tickling nods to the original – the inclusion of John Williams famous musical theme, the reappearance of the old Park logo et al – that will have those old enough remember giggling with knowing glee.
The film spends much of its first act introducing us back into the world of dinos in modern day as well as to the idea of the originally envisioned park finally come to fruition. It does a nice job of world building in that respect, giving us time to get settled in and to make sure all arms and legs are inside the carriage before the ride commences. Once we get to the point of prehistoric hell breaking loose and sheer panic ensues, it’s a fun whirlwind of set-pieces that makes full use of the massive budget that’s gone into the spectacular looking dinosaurs.
The film has a lot of hard work to do both in terms of at least trying to live up to the hype but also to visualise some pretty out-there ideas in a way that’s believable to watch and pulls it all off in pretty damn slick fashion. It even manages to make the idea of pet raptors not just palatable but convincing and compelling. It’s also got a vein of self-aware humour running throughout it to make sure things don’t get too po-faced on us while at the same time treating the danger for what it is and thus making it feel real for the audience; no mean feat when you consider that danger is entirely CGI created. And needless to say the film saves the best for last with a final showdown that’s genuinely eye-popping.
Colin Trevorrow’s calling card movie Safety Not Guaranteed – undoubtedly what got him this gig in the same manner as Monsters got Gareth Edwards his Godzilla – was a gem of a movie that fused together big ideas with endearing character interactions. And although there’s no amazing detail or depth to the latter here, as I said, they’re still enjoyable folk to be around and about whom you actually care. This is largely true in the case of Pratt, proving once more that he’s one of the most charming and charismatic new presences in Hollywood.
The two kids in peril are, thankfully, likeable and engaging rather than annoying – essential when one of the main plot angles is their rescue after they naively wander into a restricted zone – and it’s nice to see the continued late-career resurgence of Vincent D’Onofrio who most recently stunned everyone with his complex performance in Marvel’s Daredevil TV series. If there’s an issue with one character in particular it’s Dallas Howard’s super organised Claire; not so much her performance but rather how her character is written, with certain scenes throwing up some problematic, possibly sexist and misogynistic messages that if not purposefully done then certainly carelessly included.
That being said it’s not something to derail the movie, just a moderate wrinkle in an otherwise hugely entertaining blockbuster. Is it as good as the original? Of course not. But nor should it automatically be compared to it because it merely uses that film as a springboard to be its own beast, only calling back to what came before as a mark of respect and to keep it very much part of that world, so to speak. Perhaps this amount of time had to pass for a sequel this good to come along but as it stands, for the most part anyway, it was worth the wait.